Flood!
by Waffle the Badger
Summary: First challenge for RainClan! Graypaw is a new CloudClan apprentice, but what happens when the river floods? Oneshot.


"And from this moment on until you earn your warrior name, you shall be known as Graypaw, and your mentor will be Fernleaf." Hawkstar yowled from Tallcliff.

"Graypaw! Graypaw!" his Clanmates chanted. Graypaw felt happiness surge through him. Finally, after six long moons of waiting, he was an apprentice of CloudClan! He only wished that his father, Stormfang, had been here to see him. Stormfang had died of greencough a moon earlier.

His mentor came up to him to touch noses, as was tradition. He eagerly lifted his nose to meet hers, but missed and poked her in the eye. "Sorry!" he squeaked. A few purrs of laughter could be heard throughout the clearing.

"It's okay." Fernleaf said, rubbing her light green eye.

"So, what are we going to do first?" Graypaw asked. Fernleaf thought for a moment.

"Well, why don't I show you the SnowClan border?" she replied.

"That sounds cool!" as he followed his mentor out of camp for the first time. The pine forest looked exactly what like the older apprentices, Finchpaw and Badgerpaw, had described to him. Graypaw took a moment to observe all of its sights and sounds.

"Oh, come on, Graypaw, don't just stand there! The river is this way!" Fernleaf yowled at him.

"Alright, Alright, I'm coming." He meowed as he followed Fernleaf into towards the CloudClan border. His short legs made it hard for him to keep up as he jumped over puddles and tripped on roots. After a while, the pine forest thinned out and gave way to a long, snaking, river.

"This is the river," Fernleaf meowed. "It is our primary food source which also serves as a border that protects us from SnowClan. You should respect and honor it as well as be careful around it. It can be dangerous, too."

"Whoa." Graypaw said as he jumped up onto a rock which was about a fox-length above the river bank.

"I see you have found Outlook rock." Fernleaf meowed.

"Outlook rock?" Graypaw asked, tilting his gray tabby head to the side.

"It's the rock we use to spot fish, or our enemies." Fernleaf replied. Suddenly, the dark gray clouds overhead boomed with thunder, and it started to rain. "Looks like we're in for a storm." She murmured. Turning to Graypaw, she said, "Lets head back to camp!"

Graypaw retraced his steps, following his black and white mentor back to camp. "Grab yourself something of the fresh-kill pile, then fix up a nest in the apprentice's den." Fernleaf yowled at him as she ran into the warriors den. Graypaw picked a small fish of the top of the pile, then ran into his new den.

Inside, Badgerpaw and Finchpaw were chatting. As Graypaw gulped down his fish, he couldn't help but overhear what they were saying.

"Did you see the river? It's huge!" Badgerpaw meowed. Foxpaw's amber eyes stretched wide.

"No, I didn't, I was stuck cleaning out the nursery. How big is it now?" he asked.

"The rain made it swell by about two fox-lengths!" she meowed. Now Graypaw's eyes widened. Two whole fox-lengths? How much of CloudClan territory was underwater? Did it really swell that much? However deep it was, he wanted to see it, even if it meant sneaking out of camp. As he was leaving the den, Finchpaw stopped him.

"Hey, Graypaw, Where are you going? You know it's still raining, right?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, I know. I was just, um, seeing if the elders needed anything." Graypaw lied.

"Well, have fun with that." Finchpaw snickered, returning to his conversation with Badgerpaw. As soon as he stepped out of the den, the pouring rain soaked his gray tabby pelt. Graypaw started to head towards the camp entrance, but stopped when he saw Wolftail on guard. _"If I try to head out the main entrance, Wolftail will stop me and ask me where I'm going when it's raining, like Finchpaw did." _Graypaw thought._ "The only way to sneak out is... the dirtplace._

Graypaw charged into the dirtplace and through the secret hole that he and Finchpaw had made when they were kits, not wanting to be in there any longer than he had to. Outside the camp, the pine forest was completely soaked. All of the pine needles on the ground had been washed away by the rain and little puddles had formed throughout the forest.

He followed the path that he and Fernleaf had taken to get to the river earlier that day. Soon enough, he came to the river. "Whoa." Graypaw meowed. Finchpaw was right, the river was twice its normal size. Outlook rock was completely covered with water. _"I should head back now or the Clan will notice I'm gone." _He thought. Just as he was turning around to head back to camp, he heard a small cry.

"Graypaw, help us!" it shouted. He whipped around and saw two tiny kits trying to keep their heads above the water. Graypaw panicked. _"Should I go back to camp to get help, or should I try to save them myself?"_ he thought. He knew what he had to do. Graypaw leaped into the fast flowing river, it's ice cold water freezing him to the bone. Then he remembered, he didn't know how to swim! Panic surged through him as he started to sink.

Stormfang's scent filled his nose. _"Graypaw,"_ a voice meowed. _"Stormfang?"_ Graypaw thought. _"Swimming is like running, raise your head and paddle to the surface."_ Stormfang instructed. Graypaw did so and soon his head was above water. _"You've got to save those kits!"_ his father said.

Graypaw saw two bundles of orange tabby fur clinging onto a log. He paddled over to them, grabbed them by the scruff, and swam to shore. Graypaw put down the kits and collapsed on the ground, panting. The kits huddled next to him for warmth. They laid like that for a while before Graypaw began shouting at them.

"Why did you get so close to the river? You could of been killed! In fact, kits shouldn't even be out of camp!" he yowled.

One kit, Leopardkit, replied, "Sorry Gr-Graypaw, we went out to catch some a giant fish so we could make mother proud and feed the Clan, then we wanted to see if we could swim..."

"And we did catch a fish, see!" Redkit added, pointing to minnow.

"That's a nice fish." Graypaw meowed. " Come on, let's get you back to camp, your mother must be frantic!" As they walked back to camp, Graypaw thought, _"I don't think I will ever like the water again!" _


End file.
